Elvis Bars

From my All-New Official SEC Tailgating Cookbook..... ELVIS Bars (Thank you, thank you very much)!

This is a classic Elvis favorite with a surprise ingredient at the end!  These were so much fun to make and I only had to purchase 2 of the ingredients.  Most of this is household staples that you already have on hand.

You'll need:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter (softened)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 medium ripe bananas mashed (about 3/4 cup)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

4 slices of cooked bacon (crumbled)

1/2 cup powdered sugar for garnish

Preheat your oven to 350*.  Grease a 9 inch square baking dish and lone wth parchment paper.  Combine the butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer (this will be very thick).  Beat on medium high speed until fluffy and well combined.  3-5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add mashed bananas, egg and vanilla, beat on medium speed until well combined.  30 seconds to 1 minute.

Whisk together the flour baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl until combined.  Gradually combine the dry ingredients into the wet batter and beat on medium speed.  Gently fold in the bacon and chocolate chips.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing with a spatula.

Bake at 350* until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  30-35 minutes.  Please the dish on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely for about an hour before cutting into squares.

I dusted mine with powdered sugar just to up that sweetness factor!  You could use a powdered sugar glaze as well if you like!

Tomato Pie

 

I just can't believe that I've never heard of Tomato Pie! I've been seeing this on cooking websites, in my new SEC Tailgating cookbook, and it's popping up on my reels - so I get it!  Learn to make the Tomato Pie!  It's so simple (only three ingredients) and a quick bake!

You'll need:

2 large tomatoes or 1 pint of cherry tomatoes (thinly sliced)
2 pie crusts (refrigerated is fine or you can make your own)
1 box Boursin Cheese (garlic and herb)

Start by unwrapping the cheese and let it come to room temperature.  This makes it much easier to spread when the time comes.

Slice the tomatoes thinly.  Arrange the slices in a single layer on a stack of paper towels then sprinkle them with salt and let them sit for 15 minutes.  The salt will draw the water out of the slices and keep your pie from being soggy.  I flipped my slices onto new towels and salted them again on the opposite side for an extra 15 minutes.  This is known as sweating your tomatoes.

Dust a big sheet of parchment paper with just a little flour and roll out both pie crusts.  You'll need to sprinkle each crust lightly with flour as you process this.  Put one crust loosely on top of the other onto the parchment paper.

Add the Boursin Cheese and spread it evenly over the top crust.  Add your tomato slices leaving a one inch border around the edge.  Fold the crust edges loosely over the edge of the tomatoes.  Sprinkle the pie with salt (remember that you've already salted the tomatoes so you may want a light touch here) and pepper them sprinkle with a smooth olive oil (light on the oil).  

Slide the parchment paper and pie onto a baking sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.  Slice and enjoy!  The perfect summer supper!